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[etgfrog]

Yea, they have updated the trail mechs so they are decent now. Not meta level of good but much better then stock, then again you don't want new players running around in meta mechs since they run VERY hot. I've recently been having fun using a hell bringer with ppcs on the arms. Yes I could just put the ppcs on the higher torso mount, but that kind seems wrong.

[Flying Dice]

Well I went ahead and bought my first mech. I figured I was decent at playing light mechs, so I bought a raven for 2.5M cbills, or something. Then I was annoyed it wasn't fast like the trial version, so I spent 6.5M cbills getting the ultra-lightweight components and fitting a 275XL engine in it. Still haven't played with the weapons yet- since Medium Lasers seem tonnage-efficient, I might try cramming a bunch of those in.

Which one? If it's the 2X, yeah, load up on LLas and MLas, it's great for laserboating. If it's the 3L, that thing's built for ERLLas sniping. Some people try to say that the 4X is as well, but those quirks are downright dirty for a 2x LPLas build, and I routinely do more damage and get more kills with that than anything else in my garage, up to and including my assaults.

[Sensei]

Actually it looks like the 3L was meant for missiles, it's got bonuses to missile range and velocity and stuff. The 4X was clearly INTENDED for ERLLas, because it has a 30% laser range bonus. That comes with a corresponding -30% duration though. Oddly for the one that's supposed to be far away, it's also the one to come with a 25% acceleration bonus. I happen to have the 2L, so I think laserboating it is.

[Flying Dice]

Well, those are the things the devs intended when they quirked them. The game and the meta knew better, of course. The 3L's ECM and NARC quirks make it a superb support mech, the ability to high-mount 2x ERLLas and use the XL 295 make for an excellent sniper-scout. Once it's fully traited and moduled out, playing it as an unkillable sniper-support is vastly superior to using it as a missile brawler or (lol) LRM boat; if you want the former, that's why god made the Huggin.

Likewise, the 4X is nominally supposed to be an ERLLas sniper, but the -30% duration is incredible for LPLas; your entire firing cycle gets cut down to something in the range of one second. All the juicy movement-related quirks mean that it's incredibly easy to reduce your exposure to the lowest possible time, quickly move between firing positions, and brawl in a pinch (aided by the structure quirks, which the 3L noticeably lacks). It's also set up for some troll builds, like the AC20 one.

The 2X is really the only non-premium one which was played as intended... except that it wasn't played because it was shit, right up until they buffed it hard.

[Sensei]

So I played around with the 2x some more. After perhaps inadvisable spending millions of cbills, I managed to get 3 ERLLAS on it, with the sacrifice being that I have only a 245XL engine. I've had mixed success, but it's fun to snipe people with more firepower than you might expect on a light mech, and run away. Heat is, naturally, an issue, it only fits one heatsink. Not sure if this counts as a troll build or not...

[Flying Dice]

If anyone else is still playing, there's a really easy leaderboard event up right now, with a category for each class of Light. Hardly anyone plays lights and fewer play them well, so it's basically free stuff if you're not blind and stupid. I hit top ten for the Ravens just by playing ten matches, and was in top five for a while just from two or three extra to knock out the bad rounds.

[Kanil]

... and even if you don't drive a light, there's now a whole bunch of really bad Raven pilots you can kill.

[Flying Dice]

That's not new. Other Ravens are so easy to go after since nobody who plays this game has heard of relocating after firing. 

[Kanil]

Yeah, but there's a lot of them now.

[Erkki]

I used to play this in beta already but have now nearly given up. The game is unbalanced, the CW is boring and things are developed at a glacial pace, focusing on just selling more mechs.

I really, really like how MWO rewards teamwork and individual skill but there just isnt much meaningful content... Unless things have changed drastically since December. 

PS. my Blackjacks have a kill/death ratio of 2,9:1. 

Bumping this thread, because I'm giving this a try. I tried and rejected it pretty quickly when it first came out because it didn't play well with a joystick, but now I'll give it another shake (even if keyboard throttle sux).

Who else is still playing? As someone who liked the old Mechwarrior games, am I likely to enjoy myself, or experience only hollow disappointment?

I use CH flight pedals to turn the legs. Mouse turns torso and aims, but otherwise I use the buttons in the joystick. Maybe my mouse just isnt very good or someting but I've found it really helps in keeping that laser on the target at range when I dont need to click. Also, lots of buttons and hats in the joystick help managing weapon groups, targeting etc.

In other words, legs for turning, right thumb at throttle, right other fingers at buttons and hats and left hand aims with mouse. 

[Flying Dice]

I just had my first ever match where my team lost but my skill rating went up. I did 740 damage in a Locust with four Small Pulse Lasers. I guess that's what it takes if you don't want it to be a wash. For the record, the maximum damage for that is 16 per salvo... if you're within 110m and are on target for the entire burst. Suffice to say, you don't get to do that when you're trying to 1v6 the assaults and heavies sitting on your base while the rest of the survivors on your team hide. :V

The Locusts are really teaching me to love the way of the crotch-shot, since it's the only part of the CT you can reach at close range.

[Wiles]

740 damage is a great score for piloting a locust!

Speaking of locusts did they get changed in the last little while? They look tiny now! I just started playing MWO again about two weeks ago and I looked at my locust in the mechlab and it had like .9 of a ton available. Did they change its max armour or something too? I was able to stick an extra machine gun on it but one mg seems rather piddly. I tried an extra heatsink instead but I usually don't stay in one place firing long enough to worry about overheating so that was kind of underwhelming as well.

I noticed they added supply caches too. I got to open 8 of them for free because of the recent event. That was enough to make me never want to spend MC on them. 

[Kanil]

Every 'mech was rescaled in the great volumetric rescale about a month? ago. This was particularly kind to the 20 ton Locust, and made it tiny. I don't know of any construction changes recently, so I'm not sure where the .9 ton came from. As for what to spend it on: what Locust are you running? The 6 SPL/ML LCT-3E/3M and the LPL LCT-1V are the most popular builds, and put all their tonnage to good use.

Supply caches are indeed pretty terrible, but they're easy enough to ignore... and the occasional event key can get you a free omnipod for a 'mech you don't have!

[Flying Dice]

Yeah, the rescale was great--but that's mostly my opinion because I almost only play lights and mediums. Noticed the fraction of a ton of extra capacity myself, no idea where that came from.

Personally I love the Pirate's Bane, it's one of the few Hero mechs I bothered to get (the others that I have and play are the Huginn and the Ilya Muromets with the ancient chainsaw build), that ECM is just too good on a Locust. I like my old ERLL LCT-1V as well, since map votes tend to favor the wide-open campfests and it's perfect for that sort of long-term harass game.

[Wiles]

I'm running the Pirate's Bane with 4 medium lasers (and one mg right now). I'm thinking of selling a couple of mechs to pick up two more Locusts so I can elite them.